Results – Friday
UCU 69-63 Falcons
Women
UCU 77-48 A-1
Today at YMCA
KIU v Power (7.30pm)
UCU v St. Michael (5.30pm)
Women
KCC v Amazon (3.30pm)
On a rare Friday night, both UCU sides left YMCA court, Wandegeya with deserved victories despite doing it in contrasting fashion. After watching UCU Lady Canons thrash A-1 Challenge 77-48, the men’s team, UCU Canons, erased an 11-point deficit heading into the final period to defeat Mountain Dew Falcons 69-63 in the MTN-Fuba League.
Anastasia Njeri (17), Lyn Nalunkuma (15), Brenda Mbone (13), Lorraine Akinyi (11) and Maureen Amoding almost wiped A1 from the face of basketball.
This was probably A1’s worst performance this season as only Elizabeth Baziira (14) breached the 10-point barrier.
Nonetheless, ‘Showtime’ was reserved for the ‘big boys’ from Mukono as they finally matched Falcons’ physical advantage in admirable style.
Captain Ivan Enabu was the main catalyst with a team-high 18 points but UCU won the game by opting to restrict the six-time champions to the charity line.
The university side made the game dour by unleashing several intentional fouls that made the game dour but more importantly frustrated Falcons before making the final kill.
“They are bigger than us in size and the only to play them was to get physical. I though we have improved in the way we handle crunch time,” Nick Natuwereza, UCU’s youthful coach, told Sunday Monitor.
Falcons led 17-11, 14-14 and 12-17 in the opening three quarters before folding in the penultimate period which UCU won by a whooping 17 points (32-15) to avenge their first round loss.
Robert Mugabe came off the bench to score six of his 10 points when it mattered most with Steven Mwesigye (10) and Jimmy Enabu (5) offering support.
Omondi’s big score
A bruised Richard Osano Omondi, the biggest casualty of UCU’s physicality, sunk a game-high 21 points as Falcons converted only 20 of their 41 free throws.
Mike Buzangu (12) and Bienvenue Ngandu (10) could only make the game close as Karim Nkusi (3) and Cedric Sinarinzi (5) spent most of their time on the bench. It was Falcons’ fourth defeat.